Commercial food product slicers are widely utilized as rapid and effective means for slicing meat, cheese, vegetables and other food products. Such a slicer is shown in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/470,351, filed Dec. 22, 1999, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The slicers commonly include a rotatable, disc-like blade, and a reciprocating tray that brings the food product into contact with the rotating blade to cut a slice from the food product. The tray may be motor or manually driven, and typically includes a handle that provides a surface that can be gripped by a user to manually move the tray. It is often desired to remove the tray from the slicer body to clean food, fat, or other debris off of the tray. Once the tray is removed from the slicer, it is typically carried to a sink for rinsing and cleaning.
In most prior art slicers, the handle is attached to the body of the tray such that crevices or gaps may be formed between the handle and the body of the tray. In this case, food or other material may get trapped in the gaps or crevices, which can make the handle and tray time consuming to clean. Accordingly, there is a need for a slicer having a tray with a handle that eliminates any gaps or crevasses adjacent the handle, and is easier to clean.